Jack Arnold
Restaurateur, storyteller, patriarch
While many claim to be the primogenitor of the meat-and-three, from Lynn Chandler of Elliston Place Soda Shop and Sylvan Park Restaurant to the Swett family and Hap Townes, it was an employee of Chandler’s that really put our city’s humble plate-lunch tradition into the culinary zeitgeist. Just as Cézanne gave birth to Neo-Impressionism, which eventually led to Cubism, Jack Arnold was Nashville’s Picasso of Southern cooking, taking the art to the next level and popularizing Southern food in ways that earned accolades including the James Beard Foundation’s America’s Classics award.
Chandler was Cézanne in this metaphor, revolutionizing the genre by hiring Jack to run his restaurant on Eighth Avenue and eventually selling him the place so Arnold could put his own stamp on it. Jack Arnold and his family raised country cooking and hospitality to an art form at Arnold’s, and the clientele ranged from day laborers to music royalty, all standing side by side in line at the steam table with their red trays, waiting for the chance to speak with Jack — a natural storyteller who was unafraid to hold up the roast beef carving line to share a story or a naughty joke.
Like Picasso, Jack had his Blue Periods when he could get cantankerous, and he was largely absent from the restaurant for the last decade of his 85 years. But his presence was always felt in the space, and whatever the future might bring for the rest of the Arnold family and their business, Jack will always be a part of it. —Chris Chamberlain
Richard Eskind
Financial adviser, health care industry pioneer, husband
Richard Eskind was born into one Nashville in the early 20th century, and through his business and his civic, political and philanthropic efforts, was a force behind what Nashville became and is in the early 21st century.
With a bachelor’s degree in economics, a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University and experience in the family appliance business, Eskind turned to finance, a field that led to him being credited as one of the local leaders who helped establish Nashville as the “Wall Street of the South” in the 1960s and 1970s.
During his long career as a stockbroker and financial adviser, Eskind served as vice president and resident manager of the Nashville branch of investment firm A.G. Edwards and Sons. He was also at the forefront of Nashville’s health care industry as a co-founder of Hospital Affiliates International Inc. as well as health maintenance organization HealthAmerica Corp.
But it was his long marriage to political powerhouse Jane Eskind that earned him the nickname “Mr. Jane” and an article titled “The Spouse Who Wore a Necktie.” Jane Eskind was the first woman ever to win statewide election in Tennessee when elected to the Public Service Commission (now the Tennessee Regulatory Authority) in 1980, later serving as its chair. She also became the first woman to chair the Tennessee Democratic Party.
As a philanthropist, Richard Eskind was among the founders of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, which started in his daughter Ellen Lehman’s garage in 1991. The organization has surpassed $1.2 billion in giving to area nonprofits. Richard Eskind was a recipient of the 2002 Human Relations Award presented by the National Conference of Community and Justice. —Kay West
Joel Gordon
Health care industry entrepreneur
Joel Gordon was active in Nashville’s health care industry, having founded hospital management company General Care Corp. (later acquired by HCA Healthcare) and outpatient surgery company Surgical Care Affiliates (acquired by HealthSouth).
In 2017 Gordon was inducted into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame, which credits the entrepreneur for being ahead of the curve in investing in freestanding outpatient surgery centers as well as physician ownership as a business model in hospitals. He was also one of the 10 original founders of the Nashville Health Care Council. Gordon also served as president of the Jewish Community Center, which bears his name.
Active with various civic causes, Gordon was honored by United Way, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.
“Joel loved people and was a mentor to many,” his obituary reads. “His door was always open. He found immense joy in the success of others.” Gordon was 94. —William Williams
Brian Hall
Lower Broadway bartending veteran
The bartenders and hospitality workers who power Nashville’s inimitable nightlife are bonded by long shifts and the day-in, day-out toils of keeping the pubs, dives and honky-tonks of the city running. That tight-knit community was rocked by the November death of scene veteran Brian Hall, 36, who most recently manned the bar at the Tin Roof.
“He built his way into being known as one of best bartenders in Nashville, one of most interactive, kind and fun,” says Hall’s friend and former roommate Ty Waldron. “Whatever bar he was at, he drew a crowd.”
That was true to the very end: A celebration of life was held for Hall at Tin Roof, which according to one friend who attended was “packed full of family, lifelong friends and tons of his friends he’s made since he came to Nashville. A testimony to how he treated people!” —Cole Villena
Juliana Glasgow Trotman
Massage therapist, healer
There was little chance clients would fall asleep on Juliana Trotman’s massage table. People sought the strong arms and surprisingly gentle hands of the Trinidad native and licensed massage therapist to be cured, not calmed. Often she was the last hope for people suffering debilitating pain when other professionals had not been successful. Among her clients was revered veteran guitar player Richard Bennett. “He had been to an orthopedist and other doctors for his arm, and nothing helped,” says Bennett’s wife and Trotman devotee Christina. “He went to Juliana, and she fixed him.”
Others who found their way to the small studio behind her West Meade home included Waylon Jennings, Tennessee Titans players, marathon runners and tennis players. Christina Bennett says Trotman, who was also a champion bowler, was incredibly intuitive. Indeed, as Trotman told writer Matt Pulle in 2003, “Most of the time I go off intuition. I kind of let my hand flow over a muscle and it feels what I need to do.” —Kay West
Steve Horrell
Horrell Company president, gentleman, philanthropist
Steve Horrell served as president and principal broker at Horrell Company, where he worked in some manner from 1972 until his April death. A class gentleman and major supporter of Belmont University, Horrell was 73 when he lost a battle with cancer.
Horrell strongly stressed his local roots and his love of the Nashville area. He graduated from Battle Ground Academy, moving on to attend what was then known as Belmont College. There Horrell served as student government association president. He graduated from Belmont in 1972 with bachelor’s degrees in business administration and history and immediately began work with the family company.
Horrell was the son of Henry Horrell, who started Horrell Refrigeration in 1943. The company provided refrigeration to local grocery stores and was joined in 1946 by sister business and food-service-focused Horrell Properties Inc. That company modified its business model in 1955 to include commercial real estate development, brokerage and management.
In 1972, Henry, Steve and Fred (Steve’s brother) sold the refrigeration business to focus on commercial real estate work, with the company then doing business as Horrell Realty and Investments. The name change to Horrell Company was made in 2005, with Steve remaining a constant.
Horrell served as president of the Belmont University Alumni Association, as chair of the university’s development committee and as a member of the university’s board of trustees for 30 years. He also volunteered with the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee, Leadership Nashville, Genesis Learning Center, the Belle Meade Planning Commission and the Downtown Rotary Club. —William Williams
Doyle Rippee
Distinguished banker and philanthropist
Doyle Ray Rippee was born in Mississippi and died in Mississippi; he also met and married his high school sweetheart Virginia Bond there, received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Delta State University and became a father there.
But it was in Tennessee that Rippee began his distinguished career in banking — in a management training program at Union Planters Bank in Memphis, then to Commerce Union Bank, rising to become chairman and CEO. Commerce Union brought Rippee and his family to Nashville, where he led institutions through a series of the mergers that marked the industry — NationsBank of Tennessee to Bank of America, then his first “retirement,” then back to banking with Regions Bank, then First Tennessee Bank and ultimately a retirement that stuck.
Throughout, he played pivotal roles in bringing the Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators to Nashville, and his civic involvement included overseeing the $10 million capital campaign for Alive Hospice and serving on the boards of the Boy Scouts of America, the Nashville Symphony, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University. —Kay West
Brooks Parker
PR executive, arts patron
Brooks Parker, a Texas native and press secretary for Tennessee Gov. Ray Blanton, died at age 92 on May 4. Among Parker’s most notable achievements was helping secure a 1976 visit by the United Nations to Nashville — 101 U.N. representatives attended a Vanderbilt forum and a trip to Opryland.
A veteran of the Korean War, Parker moved to Tennessee to study at the University of the South in Sewanee. After serving in the Blanton administration, he was named commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Employment Security in 1978. He also sat on the first board of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.
Parker’s wife, Anne Coleman Smith Parker, preceded him in death, and he is survived by four children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. —Laura Hutson Hunter
Commemorating some of the irreplaceable Nashville figures we lost in 2023
